Making the Automaton Speak

AI Narratives ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 119-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Park
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Vital Sign ◽  
Chess Player ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Intelligent Assistants

What might the eighteenth-century history of automata tell us about the relationships between voice, the human, machines and fiction? Given the rise in our daily lives of voice-operated ‘intelligent assistants’ at this time, the question is especially pertinent. By examining the eighteenth-century case of the speaking doll and the cultural values and desires that its representation in a 1784 pamphlet entitled The Speaking Figure, and the Automaton Chess-Player, Exposed and Detected reveals, this chapter will provide a historical framework for probing how the experiences and possibilities of artificial voice shed light on our deep investments in the notion of voice as a vital sign of being ‘real’ as humans.

scholarly journals Bel Canto - 500 Years Young: A study in the practical application of ​bel canto​ technique to twentieth-century vocal works in English

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Pasquale Orchard
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Bel Canto ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Classical Singing ◽  
History Of ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Vocal Works ◽  
Shed Light

<p>As a young singer, it is inevitable that one is bombarded with the history of singing. ​Not only are we asked to listen to vocalists of previous ages, but we are also encouraged to analyse their methods and scrutinise their seminal performances in order to better identify the strengths of each singer​. Curious about the extent to which the lauded seventeenth and eighteenth-century ​bel canto vocal techniques hold relevance to contemporary classical singing and newer compositions, my research focused on whether these well-tried techniques are transferable. While the application of ​bel canto principles to the ​bel canto repertoire are clearly pertinent, my investigation concentrated on the feasibility and applicability of transferring these vocal techniques to modern repertoire, specifically songs and arias written in English, my mother tongue. This exegesis details my exploration of the application of such techniques to these two different sets of repertoire, and aims to shed light on the experience of the process of applying the ​bel canto ​principles to such works, and the potential benefits afforded by the practice of them.</p>

Fair Trade and the Political Economy of Brandy Smuggling In Early Eighteenth-Century Britain*

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Chan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Illicit Trade ◽  
Modern Capitalism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Debate ◽  
Extensive Involvement ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Thomas Ellis, merchant of London, never expected he would be prosecuted for participating in one of the largest commercial frauds of his time. So when the Customs seized his brandy in 1731 he fought back. His case would influence parliamentary decision-making and reveal the extensive involvement of merchants in illicit trade. Ellis’s argument that he was merely a ‘fair trader’ also illuminates the moral debate over smuggling during the period as governments sought to legitimize and enforce their trading rules and tariffs. Pressured by competition from professional smugglers and the revenue demands of the state, merchants responded by developing their own rules by which they could fairly compete. Ellis’s story, and the ‘Flemish scheme’ it exposed, thereby shed light on the moral economy of early modern capitalism, the history of smuggling, and the dynamic of market ordering by increasingly assertive states.

WAR, CAPITAL, AND WAGES: A NEW ECONOMIC THEORY OF “THE GREAT DIVERGENCE”

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
Jack A. Goldstone
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Comparative History ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Economic Divergence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Great Divergence ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Productivity Gains ◽  
Shed Light

Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, a distinguished economic historian, and R. Bin Wong, an eminent world historian and specialist on imperial China, have collaborated in this effort to shed light on the causes of the eighteenth-century economic divergence of China and Europe. This book has many of the virtues one would expect from such a collaboration – keen insights into comparative history, explicit models of economic relationships, and novel ideas regarding causation. Yet it also has some defects that reflect this combination: at some points in their argument, the logic of models seems to outweigh historical facts. At other points, details of history that don't fit the models, such as the history of productivity gains in agriculture in imperial China, are neglected. I shall start with the virtues of their arguments, and then discuss some particulars that lead me to question their view.

scholarly journals اردو شاعری میں ایہام گوئی

2017 ◽  
pp. 83-88
Author(s):  
Mr. Nadeem Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literary Movement ◽  
Urdu Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
Shed Light

The word Eham means to use words in poetry bearing dual meanings. The first meaning is more common and apprehensible, while the second specific and inapprehensible. The poet uses the word with its inapprehensible meaning. In the history of Urdu literature, Eham Goi became a literary movement in the early eighteenth century due to the political circumstances of that era. In this research paper, the scholar has shed light on the art of Eham and the poets who used Eham in their poetry.

scholarly journals Bel Canto - 500 Years Young: A study in the practical application of ​bel canto​ technique to twentieth-century vocal works in English

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Pasquale Orchard
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Bel Canto ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Classical Singing ◽  
History Of ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Vocal Works ◽  
Shed Light

<p>As a young singer, it is inevitable that one is bombarded with the history of singing. ​Not only are we asked to listen to vocalists of previous ages, but we are also encouraged to analyse their methods and scrutinise their seminal performances in order to better identify the strengths of each singer​. Curious about the extent to which the lauded seventeenth and eighteenth-century ​bel canto vocal techniques hold relevance to contemporary classical singing and newer compositions, my research focused on whether these well-tried techniques are transferable. While the application of ​bel canto principles to the ​bel canto repertoire are clearly pertinent, my investigation concentrated on the feasibility and applicability of transferring these vocal techniques to modern repertoire, specifically songs and arias written in English, my mother tongue. This exegesis details my exploration of the application of such techniques to these two different sets of repertoire, and aims to shed light on the experience of the process of applying the ​bel canto ​principles to such works, and the potential benefits afforded by the practice of them.</p>

scholarly journals Reunión de mujeres, reunión de virtudes. La sala del estrado del Palacio Guevara y su programa iconográfico

Imafronte ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Begoña Álvarez Seijo
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
The City ◽  
Shed Light

El presente trabajo pretende llevar a cabo un estudio del programa iconográfico realizado por el pintor lorquino Pedro Camacho Felizes de Alisén para la casa-palacio de los Guevara, situado en la ciudad de Lorca, para su sala del estrado; una veintena de lienzos de temática devocional, virtuosa y eminentemente femenina para un lugar de la vivienda reservado a la vida de las mujeres, cuyo análisis puede arrojar luz a la hora de comprender cómo era la educación de las nobles doncellas y lasvirtudes que debían encarnar en los albores del siglo XVIII en España. The present work tries to carry out a study of the iconographical program depicted by Pedro Camacho Felizes de Alisén in the Guevara's palace, located in the city of Lorca, for its 'sala del estrado'; the analysis of twenty devotional, virtuous and with eminently feminine themes canvases, placed in a room reserved for women's daily lives, can shed light on the understanding of noble maiden’s education and the virtues that they were to incarnate at the dawn of the eighteenth century in Spain.

The Public Life and Death of a Propertied, but Artificial Person

2019 ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
William A. Pettigrew
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corporate Body ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light

This chapter uses the divestment of the Royal African Company (1747–1752) to shed light on a central question posed by Paul Langford’s work: how did the eighteenth-century British Parliament reconcile its primacy within the British state’s regulatory apparatus with its role as the upholder of the sanctity of property? Between 1747 and 1752, a series of statutes dissolved the Royal African Company, divested it of its African properties (including forts and enslaved people) and transferred these assets to a new (non-corporate) body. Parliament distributed £112,142 of public funds to compensate the Company’s creditors (including several of its former officers) and proprietors. The chapter explores the distinctive challenges posed to the legislature of corporate property. It places the African Company divestment into the larger history of corporate dissolution across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the ways in which constitutional changes altered that process. It uses the African Company case to challenge those who have depicted Parliament’s actions in undermining private property as compulsory. The chapter instead emphasizes the negotiations and compromises and the wilful leadership the Company took in the process of ending its life. The chapter offers a full prosopographical analysis of the recipients of compensation. The importance of former officers of the African Company in the list of major recipients confirms that public concern about Britain’s prestige on the African coast proved crucial to the passing of this legislation.

scholarly journals Catholic Convent Schools and the History of Irish Girlhood: Curriculum and Continuity 1780–1920

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-77
Author(s):  
Mary Hatfield
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Boarding Schools ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Female Education ◽  
Educational Mission ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Purpose Of Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light

This article traces the educational mission of three Catholic convent boarding schools from the late eighteenth century until the 1920s, highlighting striking similarities in Catholic female education across different temporal and geographical contexts. Using institutional records, community annals and student roll books, this article considers how the priorities and structure of female education can shed light on implicit assumptions held by Catholic woman about the nature of girlhood and the purpose of education. It aims at a fuller understanding of the pedagogical model shared by these boarding schools and provides evidence of a strong cultural continuity in the ideals of Catholic girlhood across time. In doing so, it contributes to a perennial debate within the history of childhood on the historical narrativisation of continuity.

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